Court Case Over the Reclamation of Ross Island Delayed

Meanwhile, the RISG owner’s sprawling ranch now has an asking price.

Silo at former Ross Island Sand & Gravel Co. Drymix Concrete Plant. (Brian Burk)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The Oregon Department of State Lands’ case to get Ross Island Sand & Gravel to comply with a long-standing agreement to refill the hole it left in the Willamette River and to repair wildlife habitat on the island in downtown Portland has been delayed until May.

The parties were due to appear before an administrative law judge later this month regarding DSL’s attempts to collect a $2.9 million penalty it levied against the company last year for failure to comply with state requirements to mitigate the damage from 75 years of mining.

Meanwhile, in December, as part of a settlement in U.S. District Court, RISG owner Robert Pamplin Jr. admitted to the federal Department of Labor that he illegally sold Ross Island to his company’s pension fund for $10.8 million in 2022, and as part of that settlement, his company had to take the island back from the pension fund and repay the money with interest. The Ross Island hearing has now been rescheduled for May. RISG declined to comment.

Also as part of that settlement, Pamplin’s company is preparing his sprawling 81,000-acre ranch in Wasco and Jefferson counties for sale. Jerry Hicks, a broker with Fay Ranches, which the trustee representing the Pamplin pension fund hired to sell the property, says the asking price is $52.25 million.

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